Monday, November 30, 2009

Parodying a Parody

In the words of an old National Lampoon cover, “you can parody anything” even parody itself (Harvey Kurtzman proved that in Mad #18). But parodying a parody is never easy. For further proof check out this spoof of the old Batman series that ran on an episode of Fast Forward. Too much of the comedy relies on Batman and Robin’s ambiguous relationship (and, please let’s officially retire this joke along with any gag about Peppermint Patty and Marcy’s sapphic tendencies or Scooby and Shaggy’s unspoken love of pot. It’s so hacky) but there are some interesting moments. Adam West’s acting style is amusingly mocked as is the show’s over-reliance on alliteration (which seems kind of dumb being that Batman’s use of alliteration was intentionally over-the-top). It’s not really funny but if you like Batman you’ll tolerate this.